Convertible sofa beds are popular with consumers because of their multifunctionality. Many consumers find it very convenient to have a sofa that can provide a bed for a guest, as such a sofa can eliminate the need for an additional, separate bed. One popular sofa-bed design includes its own complete mattress that is folded within the cavity of the sofa during periods of non-use. One such example is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,941 to Gill et al. This type of sofa-bed can be quite heavy, and typically requires not only the separate mattress, but also a relatively intricate mechanism to control the unfolding and folding of the mattress.
Other sofa beds lack a complete mattress, instead being constructed of separate sections that serve as support surfaces of the sofa and unfold to form a flat, mattress-like sleeping surface. An example of a convertible sofa of this type is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,996 to Tiffany. The Tiffany sofa-bed includes a backrest, a seat and a “subseat” that unfold to form the horizontal sleeping surface. In the folded “sofa” configuration, the backrest is generally upright, and the seat and “subseat” fold upon each other (with the subseat in an inverted position). The backrest is guided between positions by preformed slots in the arms of the sofa that receive posts that extend laterally from the backrest. The backrest is coupled to the seat and subseat via an angled link. The subseat is pivotally attached at one end to the arms and is hinged at the other end to the seat. This arrangement is described in Tiffany as being particularly economical and having relatively few moving parts. It would be desirable to provide an improved version of this configuration (particularly one that provides a bed at a “standard” height of between about 18 and 26 inches) to capitalize on these advantages.
In addition, the Tiffany-style sofa-bed employs the backrest of the sofa-bed as the head end of the unfolded bed. Because the backrest section is required to pivot when moving between positions, it is not fixed to the arms of the sofa. As such, there are typically small gaps between the outer edges of the backrest and the arms that can be unsightly. It would be desirable to provide a Tiffany-style sofa-bed that lacks these gaps between the backrest and the arms.
Moreover, the Tiffany-style sofa employs sections of cushions and panels that can be rather heavy and, therefore, difficult to move between positions. It would be desirable to provide a Tiffany-style sofa-bed that moves easily between the unfolded and folded positions.